Monday, 26 November 2012

Our SG Conversation 2

UPDATE - S'pore can't go down 'red vs blue' path: PM Lee

Singapore cannot afford to go down the path of countries like the United
States, where most states clearly belong to either the Democrat or
Republican camp and the victorious political party has to chose whose
interests to represent, said People's Action Party secretary-general Lee
Hsien Loong.

"If Singapore had a blue constituency and a
red constituency, I think Singapore will be in trouble," said Mr Lee,
who was addressing party activists at a seminar this morning, the
intra-party version of the ongoing Our Singapore Conversation.

"We have tried to make sure that all our constituencies are about
the same colour … because we want all the constituencies to share the
same interests. Then we can think together and when you represent
Singapore, you represent the whole of Singapore."

“If Singapore had a blue constituency and a red constituency, I think
Singapore will be in trouble,” Mr Lee told PAP activists at a morning
seminar.

He also said: “We have tried to make sure that all our constituencies
are about the same colour — because we want all the constituencies to
share the same interests. Then we can think together and when you
represent Singapore, you represent the whole of Singapore.”

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on Saturday spoke of the need to make choices and trade-offs in the governing of the country.

Speaking
to activists from the ruling People’s Action Party at a seminar on
Saturday, Mr Lee, who is also the PAP Secretary-General, said this also
means updating and revising policies, and keeping them afresh.

Developments
around the world make a big difference to Singapore’s future and Mr Lee
feels it is therefore important to pay attention to external trends,
like the growth of India and China, and the disputes in the South China
Sea

Senior Parliamentary Secretary (Ministry of Communications and
Information and Ministry of Education) Sim Ann, who is a member of Our
Singapore Conversation Committee, will be in China for two dialogues.

On
November 22, the dialogue will be held in Shanghai at 7pm at the
Singapore Consulate. On November 23, another dialogue will be held in
Beijing at 7pm at the Singapore Embassy.

A series of
Our Singapore Conversation (OSC) dialogues have been held as part of
efforts to reach out to Singaporeans abroad. The
first of the series of overseas dialogues began in London on November
3. It saw more than 30 Singaporeans from all over United Kingdom coming
together to participate in the dialogue.

Most of the participants
were professionals and students based in London. Some had travelled from
other parts of UK, including Manchester, Warwick, Oxford and Wales to
join in the dialogue.

Alas, why can't political leaders in Singapore realise that dignity,
reputation, honour and fame comes not from being demanding and
commanding but from being honest, sincere, trustworthy, helpful and
forgiving? If they can only

lead by example and not talk through their bottom hole;

if they can walk the talk instead of walking the cock;

if they can speak of the real truths instead of the "hard truths",

then they would not be at a loss now - embarrassingly flying all the way to China to hold a NATCON (national conversation) !

Isn't it waste of good money and time to send Sim Ann to China to put
forth a wayang to show that the government is 'listening'? I fear the
day when they start sending other ministers to to all corners of Mother
Earth to NAT CON! Then again, with PAP and "within the radius of 200 metre is not within the 200 metres" [Link], what else would PAP not do?

When a storm is brewing, the little creatures will stir, be they in the
sea or on land. They are able to sense the coming of a major climatic
change. They are more sensitive than any human made instrument or gadget
to detect weather or geological phenomena. A political storm is in the
making that will bring about great changes in our national landscape.
Some have sensed it coming and have started to rise from their slumber.

The last GE saw the surfacing of many new faces that are professionals
in their own right, very credible people, to stand for election as an
alternative to the present govt. We are now seeing a continuation of
this movement, with more elites standing up to offer alternative views
that are equally cogent and coherent and sound. This group comprises
mainly the ex civil servants or ex establishment.

The latest candidate
is in Yeoh Lam Keong, the ex Chief Economist in GIC. He has joined the
ranks of Lim Chong Yah, Tommy Koh and Ngiam Tong Dow. The earlier batch
of ex’s is already in the political parties, the likes of Tony Tan,
Hazel Poa, Benjamin Pwee, Tan Jee Say and Tan Kin Lian.

I dragged myself, Saturday morning, to a session of the Singapore Conversation, my thoughts swinging between This is stupid, I’ll be wasting my time and I should at least see what one is like.

It was a Stage 2 event, meaning that it was to build upon the
conversations of the previous month or two. From those sessions, the
organisers had distilled the sentiments expressed into the following
themes, and a introductory paper was passed around stating them:
I would like to see a Singapore . . .

The trouble is, aren't we supposed to be having a national
conversation about where this country is heading and what it might look
like 20 years from now? This, alas, does not seem to be on many minds.

Education Minister Heng Swee Keat, charged with spearheading the
initiative, has a challenge on his hands. With so many more immediate
and interesting topics to talk about, getting people to focus on
longer-term issues is proving more of a mountain to climb than anyone
might have imagined.

Participants at the first few discussions organised by the Our
Singapore Conversation committee have been asked to ponder the kind of
society they want and to frame their view as newspaper headlines they
would like to read in the future, an approach that naturally resonates
with me as a newsman.

National consultative exercises have taken place before. So taking a
leaf from the past, the party decides to have mass chit-chat sessions
with the populace.

However, mass chit-chat sessions could be disastrous if not handled
properly. If too many angry people participate, the sessions could turn
confrontational. Nor would it do to have intelligent people asking
awkward questions or harping on the same old problems that are
impossible to be erased in the next few years. Inviting the right people
is the key.

Moreover, people must be made to think less of the present and more
of the future. They need to forget the current difficulties and focus
further ahead. They must talk about the future and not the present. By
asking them to think and discuss what kind of society and place they
want the party to deliver in 2022, it gives them hope amidst their
misery. It also makes them feel they have a role in forging the new
vision. Naturally, the party, by being the initiator, becomes the beacon
of that hope.

Known for speaking his mind on national policies after his retirement
from the Civil Service, former Permanent Secretary Ngiam Tong Dow
yesterday called on academics in tertiary institutions here to join the
fray on public discourse.

Speaking at the 3rd China-India-Singapore dialogue on higher education
hosted by the National University of Singapore (NUS), the NUS
Pro-Chancellor challenged the Singapore-based academics among the
160-strong audience - which included academics from overseas
institutions - to "help the State to ask the right questions".

Mr Ngiam, 75, argued that this is key to the Republic achieving sustainable economic growth.Rather than boosting population numbers, what Singapore needs to do is
to increase its knowledge base - and, in that regard, universities have
to do more than just teach "skills and technical knowledge". read more

Calling the thinkers for Natcon

My earlier post calling for the elite to step forward to share their
brilliant minds for the good of the nation is likely to prove in vain.
Who am I to make such a call but a noise in the wilderness of insanity. I
am pleasantly surprised to read in the media that Ngiam Tong Dow has
stepped up to the podium to make the same call.

This time he was
addressing the academia, the place called Ivory Tower, where brains are
made of ivory unlike the peasants that are made of mud. Ngiam is
inviting the intellectuals, the thinkers, huddling in their Ivory Tower
to speak up, to share their precious wisdom and knowledge with the govt
for a better future for all citizens.

Then I was slammed right in the face by the comments coming out of the
Ivory Tower. Read these words very very carefully. I am quoting them
from the Today paper. Eugene Tan, the SMU law professor, ‘cited the fear
factor as a possible deterrent for academics to speak out.’ My eyeballs
are rolling. Eugene also said, ‘some senior faculty “frown upon their
colleagues being involved”, …They regard such involvement as purely non
academic and not in keeping with the academic norms.”’

Opposition politicians can play a pivotal role in national
conversation dialogues ("WP leaders won't join national conversation";
last Friday).

There have been many good suggestions and views given during the Our
Singapore Conversation dialogues, and the participation of opposition
leaders could have made it more fruitful.

Workers' Party (WP) chairman Sylvia Lim need not worry about whether
its leaders' views are assumed to be representative of the party or
otherwise; what matters most is the sincerity to engage the Government.

There has been so much publicity about the over-hyped National
Conversation, a brainchild of PM Lee Hsien Loong in his National Day
Rally, that there is a danger that it is bordering on the ad nauseam.
The reason is that the Committee spearheading the National Conversation
is so heavily loaded with PAP political office holders, headed by
Minister Heng Swee Kiat, that it gives the unmistakable impression that
it is just a PAP government show to appease the rising anger of the
electorate over a litany of unpopular PAP policies among which
unrestrained immigration and import of foreign talents take prominence.

The PAP wallahs vowed blindly that the National Conversation must be as
inclusive as possible but only that they gave a lie to the word
inclusive because no opposition representatives or bloggers were
appointed to the Committee. The Acting Minister Tan Chuan-Jin, who is on
the Committee, gave a far-fetched excuse that the National Conversation
was not meant to be "partisan". Only PAP supporters will believe him.

How can it be called a National Conversation when an important and
essential segment of the society such as the opposition parties and
bloggers is excluded? Would it not be a misnomer? With the Committee
heavily planted with PAP political office holders, would it not be
reasonable for the non pro-PAP public to view this as a "wayang kulit"
(Indonesian puppet show) and that whatever decision taken by the
National Conversation is a foregone conclusion of pseudo support of
unpopular PAP government policies?

Many
participants spoke about the importance of Values in all that we do, as
a country, as a community, and as individuals. It was heartwarming to
hear so many participants speak about wanting to help build a Singapore
society with Compassion, Graciousness, Empathy, Inclusiveness. There was
recognition that everyone had a role to play in developing and building
the “Singapore Soul”, from individuals reaching out to neighbours and
friends in need of help, communities coming together to celebrate our
symbols of Singapore culture, and government institutions being more
caring and flexible in administering social support schemes. One
participant put it across aptly when he brought up the Mr Kiasu comic he
used to read and said that it was time we said “Goodbye Mr Kiasu, Hello
Mr Gracious!”

The national conversation will move into its next phase of discussions in the later part of November.

Committee member of the Our Singapore Conversation, Mr Lawrence Wong, said that in the next few weeks, the committee will start looking at some of the themes that have emerged from the dialogue sessions held so far.

Mr Wong, who is the Senior Minister of State for Education and Information, Communications and the Arts, gave this update at a citizen dialogue session on Saturday.

The Government is looking at changing its communications approach to take into account the fact that Singaporeans are turning to multiple sources of news online.Signalling that the authorities are looking at how to engage bloggers and non-mainstream outlets as part of the news ecosystem, Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts Yaacob Ibrahim said yesterday: "Certainly there is a lot more diversity in which news is being spread, news is being received. People are doing a lot more things differently, reading news from different sources and so on ... therefore the whole-of-government communications will have to be restructured to ensure that it takes into account the varied landscape."Dr Yaacob was speaking to reporters at the Petempatan Melayu Sembawang Mosque where he attended prayers and distributed Korban meat.

From having more empathy and graciousness in society, to becoming more accepting of the elderly, and having 'Singaporean' listed as a race on identity cards - these were among the issues raised by participants at the Our Singapore Conversation citizen dialogue.Held at the National Library earlier this morning, it was attended by about 60 people from all walks of life, including taxi drivers, professionals, full-time national servicemen, university undergraduates and retirees.The session to canvass views on Singapore's future mainly saw participants suggesting that Singaporeans' values be improved.

Workers' Party (WP) leaders will not participate in citizen dialogues under the ongoing national conversation, but its Chairman Sylvia Lim said other party members can attend, if invited in their personal capacities.

None of the three Opposition party members invited to the first national conversation dialogue, held on Oct 13, attended the session. Besides Ms Lim, the other two were Hougang Member of Parliament (MP) Png Eng Huat and National Solidarity Party Secretary-General Hazel Poa.

At a National University of Singapore forum on Oct 17, Non-Constituency MP and WP Treasurer Yee Jenn Jong clarified that both Ms Lim and Mr Png were invited in their personal capacities. Ms Poa had said during the forum she was unable to attend due to work commitments and hoped to reschedule a date to participate.

Recently, Singaporeans were urged to participate in a national
conversation. This is actually nothing new. It has been done before in
S21 and the Remaking of Singapore.

From the looks of things so far, the exercise is not going to be very
much different from its predecessors. The lives of Singaporeans would,
therefore, not be expected to improve very much as the problems have
already existed for some time and have not really been adequately
addressed.

There is really no need to stage any kind of national conversation
because Singaporeans have been engaging in political conversations all
the time. You can hear or read them on the internet, in homes and in the
coffeeshops. However, the PAP prefers the conversation to be carried
out in their own way so that they can be seen listening to the people.read more

National ConversationS

I was interviewed by a local newspaperman yesterday, and he asked me if a
project that I was involved in, was part of the National Conversation. I
said to him that like many other Singaporeans I have always believed
in conversations, for I'm sure that only through a robust dialogue, can
we decide on a common destiny. I also believe that every generation,
has to have dialogues to envision the type of country we want, for us
and our future generations.

But did this conversation start only start a few months ago? I don't think so.

It is a conversation from way before the last General Election. There
were many issues Singaporeans were talking about, and it was not about
rooftop gardens and senior Olympics, but about immigration,
overcrowding, income divide, public housing crunch, inequality and many
such issues. And it's not that the PAP Government did not hear these
murmur from the ground - they did - which is why the PM offered his
apology to Singaporeans at the last GE saying, '...if we didn't quite
get it right I'm sorry, but we will try and do better the next time".

Civil
society and the SDP came together to discuss the future direction of
Singapore and to provide a counter conversation to the one held by the
PAP Government.Several of the speakers criticised the National Conversation as being staged and insincere in wanting to listen to the views of the people. They were speaking at the National Conversation Roundtable organised by the SDP at the Quality Hotel last Saturday.Ms
Teo Soh Lung reminded the audience that S21, an initiative carried
under the Goh Chok Tong prime ministership and led by then PAP MP Dr Tan
Cheng Bock, was nothing but talk.read morecontinued from: Our SG Conversation 1